This is one of the best shooters on the xbox. It has a very high replay value. I got this game 2 and a half years back, and I still play it. The story mode is good, but it isn't a goldeneye. The arcade league, challange, mapmaker and multiplayer modes are what keeps you playing it. There are 126 characters (I unlocked them all, there's no cheats for this game though). all the characters come from different time periods. You have sci-fi, military, western themes, etc.
The multiplayer has a lot of modes (deathmatch, capture the bag, zones, etc). There are plenty of maps, circus is my favorite. You can have up to ten ai bots, so you can play by yourself. They acually give you a challange. You can also make your own maps, it's really easy too. The graphics are cartoonish, but the textures are smooth.
TRUST ME, getting all the characters isn't even close to easy. I got really frustrated with this game. I praticed the challanges a lot though. Just so you know I'm only 12, and someone else please write a review if you unlocked all the characters.
This is Perfect Dark or Goldeneye, just on the three newest consoles. This is my favorite game (check out for Timeslitters: Future Perfect). And that my fellow gamers, is the name of the game.

First off, I'm no hardcore gamer. I just happened to be browsing some gaming magazine when the ad got me. Being a big fan of the comics, I decided to give it a try. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to be able to pair up Spidey with Iceman and The Human Torch and whoever catches your fancy? And the game delivers a lot of punch in many ways. The difference between this game and the normal edition is this edition comes with 8 extra characters that are already available as xb live downloadable content.

GAMEPLAY: Campaign mode is pretty straightforward. You can walk through the entire thing and it makes for a lot of gametime. It is kind of reminiscient of the Ninja Turtle series from back in the 90's where you pretty much follow a straight map (except in this case, there are some side rooms that you can explore in each level), kill some enemies, get to a minor boss, kill more enemies, then get to the final boss. Obviously, you have to expect the occasional roadblock - 'What am I going to do to get past this flaming doorblock?' situations where simple puzzles can come in play, but overall, getting through levels is a sort of linear kind of thing. The whole game probably takes about 18-25hrs to beat on normal. But then you won't necessarily unlock all the superheroes and costumes and whatnot. The side simulator missions are also a lot of fun and add an extra leveling up element to the game, so I guess that's what keeps you going. You unlock hard mode after beating normal once. Very replayable game, I've already beaten the story at least 4 times across three difficulty levels. GRADE: A

THE RPG ELEMENT: Activision markets this as an action/rpg game, and while there is lots of action (as I mentioned, the Ninja Turtle game flashback it brought me), there are elements of RPG. Whenever you pick up 'money' on the map and level up, you can spend points leveling up character skills and abilities. The items you equip your characters with will also matter in the same way. The system is rather straightforward and being my first game from the 'series' (apparently this is the successor to some XMen Legends game?), it did not take me long to learn about where this element kicks in. GRADE: A

THE CO-OP ELEMENT: Co-op is awesome and I definitely prefer that to playing alone. You can team up with 1-3 of your friends for some 2-4 player co-op. xb Live allows for some smooth gameplay even while online. While camera views can be annoying at times, you can easily tell that the programmers put a lot of time into making co-op gameplay here really smooth. One weird thing about this though, with comic missions, the main character is controlled by one player and enemies which are, surprise surprise, not controlled by the AI if you've been playing co-op. Kind of eliminates that whole challenge feel to it if you look at it in one way. GRADE: A+

GRAPHICS: Almost comical. Not as in funny comical, but as in like the comic books. Graphics looked much better than on a PS2, but still there were some problems. Heck, the cinematics looked awesome. But for the most part, gameplay graphics were pretty tight. I found some of the animations rather sorry, like the lime green-ness, almost-to-the-state-of-previous-gen-ness of the Fin Fang Foom, but other than that, I really don't have much complaints. So don't expect Gears of War graphics here. GRADE: B+

STORY: Any game that can capture the essence of every superhero's personality while at the same time painting this captivating story as it unravels gets my props. Although sometimes, in the middle of a mission, the small things that go wrong that you and your group must fix up, these things can make you lose sight of the big picture. GRADE: B+

COMPLAINTS:
- Dialogue is kind of key in this game for the most part. At times dialogue pops up in the worst time (immediately after a fight) such that I found me or one of my friends mistakenly hitting the 'continue' button (A) right through the dialogue as if the fight was still going on (A = the attack button).
- Reviving characters: So in battle, if one of your group gets KO'ed, there's a resting period. When the resting period is over, a message pops up saying that the character of interest is fully rested, but instead of letting him/her pop out just as if to rejoin the group, you always have to get to some save point to activate that character again.

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Once again, being not that hardcore of a gamer, I can't really say much in the way of in-depth game reviews. But here's the bottom line:

- This game is definitely one to be played co-op. My brother and I grew up playing these types of games and having hours and hours of fun together with these (heh... Ninja Turtles).
- Don't get this if you're looking for straight RPG. True, there is an RPG element, but not as much in the way of world-exploration and stuff that have surrounded some of the world's best RPGs.
- This game is mission-based, with different levels separated into 5 acts that will load from your home base. Think Splinter Cell or soldier FPS games where you have one level, side missions that pop up when things screw up, and then an overall mission goal that must be beaten for you to return to home base.

I loved the original Halo. It had everything I wanted in a game. Good graphics, excellent story, and lots of action.

Halo 2 is essentially its predecessor, except better. I know that sounds unlikely, but the few things that I didn't like about the original game such as bad Marine AI and monotonous maps are gone in this version.

For example, I was playing last night, and I was on the second level where you and a team of Marines are going through an African city killing everything. A Marine in front of me gets killed as soon as he rounds a corner. Instead of charging ahead, the rest of the squad hugs the wall. So, I swap my sniper rifle for Sarge's auto rifle (another kickass feature, you can swap guns with marines). Since the Marines are better shots, Sarge charges ahead and takes out the Covenant sniper. The marines and I then charge ahead and waste the covenant.

Here is a summary of cons and pros about the game.

PROS: Marines are much, much more intelligent.

You can swap guns with marines.

marines can drive vehicles on their own now.

the flood return

AH TOO MANY TO LIST CANT LIST THEM ALL

Cons: The only bad things I noticed so far were some minor graphial glitches, such as guns and vehicles sticking through walls. Also, every time it loads a charecter in a cutscene, a milisecond later the game seems to "draw" the person. It is kind of wierd looking, but in no way hurts the game.

If you are into a good sci-fi story or lots of action get this game. Also, Halo 1 fans wont be dissapointed, all changes were for the better.

Work perfectly arrived Promptly. Would buy again. i have recomendde to several friends and family members.Thanks for supplying a great product.

A little while back the greatest superheo game that has ever been made came out. That title was, for a time, attributed to the much-hyped flop "Superman: Man of Steel" (see review). However, I can say with the greatest confidence that Spider Man 2 is doubtlessly the head-and-tails best superhero game ever made. It's visually solid, playable, relaxing, challenging, and overall, totally solid entertainment.

How can a game be both relaxing and challenging at the same time? Why, open-ended gameplay, of course! This innovation that Grand Theft Auto pioneered FINALLY finds its way into the superhero realm with spectaular results. Spidey can really take on whatever he wants to. On the one hand, he can complete the storyline challenges, which interwine the events of the movie with characters from the Spidey mythology. On the other, it seems that there are plenty of petty crime and hidden hideouts to keep Spidey busy outside of the main story.

Of course, there's always the fun of just swinging around New York City. Spider Man 2 boasts an impressive and convincing map of Manhattan. When introducing the game, climbing to the top of the Empire State and looking around (before the jump, of course) never fails to impress. As the media has told you, if you can see it, you can go there.

On top of the great sandbox, Spider Man's physics are convincing and the control scheme is tight. Once learned, this combination makes for an extremely playable game. Learning to web-swing takes a little investment, but pays off as the game plays. There's also a pretty cool fighting system that's always available. Spidey-sense give you hints when to dodge, and spidey reflexes give you the bullet-time style upper hand in a tight spot. Upgradable attacks and combos make for constant button-mashing fun.

Some X-Box owners will doubtlessly whine about boxy ported cutscenes, the occasional bug, and eventually the repetitive nature of the on-the-street missions. However, I will gladly trade fully articulated New Yorkers for miles and miles of fluid Manhattan to convincingly swing in. The Atari 2600 proved that playability is more importnat than eye candy any day of the week.

The Lowdown: After a long evolution that dates back to PS1, Spider-Man 2 gets the title: Best Superhero Game Ever. Well done.

Unless you've been living underground for the past couple of weeks, you're already very familiar with the recent release of Destroy All Humans! - and if you're anything like me, you've been waiting for it for some time. So... is it everything we'd hoped it would be? Is it worth your hard-earned cash? Read on for one man's opinion.

Destroy All Humans! is set in the 1950's, and the look and feel of the game is genuinely faithful to camp favorites such as Plan 9 From Outer Space. You play Crypto, the latest in a nearly endless series of clones representing the Furon empire, and your mission is simple - retrieve DNA from humans on the planet Earth as a means of preserving your race. I won't go into all the details of the storyline - suffice it so say that in the end, your activities on Earth aren't really all that dependent on DNA recovery. You receive orders, missions, and upgrades to weapons and abilities from Orthopox, a Furon alien superbrain who's interactions with Crypto are frequently amusing.

Orthopox requires DNA in exchange for the upgrades, but you'll probably have little difficulty amassing sufficient DNA in the first area to take care of your needs for the entire game. In fact, the DNA for upgrades exchange is one of the weakest areas of the game, as it becomes clear early on that collecting DNA is a rather worthless exercise. You can amass significant quantities of DNA just by completing side missions, which you can repeat - although the requirements get continually more difficult as you repeat them. That's not to say it's not fun - it is. I never tire of seeing the ol' brain pop out of a helpless human, but there really isn't any point beyond just the fun of it.

As for weapons, they're fun and imaginative. You've got the standard electrifying ray gun, a disintegrator, an Anal Probe (probably the most fun to use, although not very useful in an intense fight), and an Ion Grenade launcher, which packs some serious firepower. As you purchase upgrades, each gets an increase in damage area, ammo capacity, or both. Since you need ammo to use the Ion Launcher and Disintegrator, you'll need to keep an eye out for ammo powerups - some areas have very few of them, others more. As usual, the more ammo powerups you see in an area, the more dangerous the area is likely to be!

You've also got your considerable PK abilities at your disposal, and after some upgrading you can easily fight off large numbers of troops using nothing but your huge alien brain! Even in the beginning, it's a hoot to pick up a cow and hurl it at a gun-totin' farmer - or pick up the farmer and toss him to his doom! Later, you can lift tanks into the air and hurl them with ease - but watch out, they still shoot at you while you're lifting them! In addition to tossing stuff around at will, you have the ability to read people's minds and even take their form, making it possible for you to walk around in their midst undetected! Many reviewers have commented on the hilarious thoughts you'll encounter - I'm still looking, and I've heard an awful lot of really funny stuff. It's a lot of fun just to hang around on the street and listen to what these seemingly normal humans are thinking! The writers have really captured the spirit of the age - politics, social issues, and even Elvis really immerse you into the B-movie atmosphere.

Of course, Destroy All Humans would be incomplete without a flying saucer - and you've got one! It packs a terrific punch, too. You start off with a Death Ray, which delivers terrific damage to anything near the target reticle. You eventually pick up the Sonic Boom and the Quantum Deconstructor - wow! You will be more than satisfied with the destructive capability at your disposal. I've spent quite a while just revisiting areas for some all-out destruction - it's terrific fun to cruise slowly down the street destroying everything in your path! Of course, if things get too out of hand, you'll soon be dealing with no small amount of resistance in the form of the Army - and even the infamous Men in Black - but you have got some serious firepower at your command! This is one game where you've definitely got the upper hand!

The music is particularly appropriate, reminiscent of the work of Bernard Hermann, a composer famous for his work on The Day the Earth Stood Still, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and many other sci-fi/fantasy films of the 50's and 60's. Unlike many other games where the music can become so distracting that you eventually just go into Options to turn it off, the score to Destroy all Humans adds an important quality of realism and fun to the mayhem.

Graphically, this is as good a presentation as I've seen on the Xbox. Explosions, lighting, weapon effects, atmosphere - all are terrific. You get a variety of rural and urban environments, both day and nighttime effects, and truly excellent rendering of 50's era clothing, cars, and buildings. You can even look inside many of the buildings and see some of the excellent attention to detail the graphic artists put into this baby. Sound is also outstanding - you get all the bone-shaking explosions you can stand, along with the unworldly hum of the Quantum Deconstructor - it's a treat for the senses.

As observed elsewhere, there are a few pop-up issues, but I didn't find them particularly distracting - the scenery is great, so it's hard to be too concerned about it. Endlessly spawning enemies can be a problem at times, but if you remember your abilities (the jet pack is particularly useful), you can generally get out of almost any situation. Bosses are fun and challenging, but not to the point of frustration - a welcome programming feature, since this is a game that's meant to be experienced as a movie, and you' don't want to get so frustrated that you get up and leave in the middle! The plot is interesting, appropriately campy, and filled with enough twists and turns to keep you pushing through to your inevitable triumph.

As other reviewers have noted, the gameplay of Destroy all Humans! may leave some experienced gamers feeling a bit unchallenged, but the game more than makes up for this lack of complexity with the sheer fun of playing an Earth-conquering alien with truly extraterrestrial powers and abilities. This is certainly not a first-person shooter on a par with Halo 2, nor is it a seemingly open-ended playfest like GTA San Andreas - but it's not supposed to be. This is a game in a genre all its own - the 1950's B-movie Role Playing category - and would easily win an award on its own merits. Buy this game, play it, and have a blast. You'll be glad you did!

To start off, I'd like to say that X-Box Live is amazing and worth every penny. Online gaming is incredibly fun and quite a good way to pass time.

That aside, there are downsides to X-Box Live that can be avoided through prepaid cards. Number one, you always run the risk that unwarranted transactions will be made if your credit card information is stored on your X-Box 360 system. It may not happen all that often, but it's best to avoid it all together.

The biggest reason to buy prepaid Xbox Live card is the renewal process that happens when you don't use one. If you order X-Box Live through your system, it'll renew every time your subscription runs out. This wouldn't be a problem except that it's not that easy to cancel. Instead of canceling through your system, you have to go through the hassle of actually calling X-Box Live support. Even then, depending on the representative you get, you may be hassled to keep your subscription because they really don't want you to cancel it. I'm guessing that's part of their job to convince you to keep it, but it still is frustrating to the person that is trying to cancel it.

You'll have to go through this process every time you want to cancel if you don't use a prepaid card. Is that hassle really worth it? I don't think so. Therefore, avoid all of the problems by simply buying a prepaid card. You won't be sorry.

UPDATE: (3/6/2011): I updated this review about a year ago pointing out that you could disable the subscription on X-Box Live's website. As of this update, they've taken that feature away again. I'm guessing Microsoft must have seen a major increase on people who canceled their subscription, thus now forcing you to call their customer service hot-line again to cancel. Even if they add it back, just save yourself the hassle and get a prepaid card. You never have to worry about dealing with customer service that will try their hardest to get you to stay on as a recurring customer. Amazon also gives great deals throughout the year. You could save yourself $20 to $30 sometimes just by checking to see if Amazon has these prepaid cards on sale. What's not to love about that?